Thomas Hirschhorn

Thomas Hirschhorn is a complex artist, while showing a very political body of work influenced by philosophy and great ideologies, he is also represented by the biggest galleries in the world and sells artworks for a shitload of money. His Presence/Production “exhibitions” have taken place in a lot of varied places from museums to the projects in the Bronx, and each time, he was on the spot every day, talking to people, to journalists, organising the debates, inviting guests, etc. During these events, who are usually dedicated to a theme or to a philosopher, he publishes a free journal each day. I don’t know if they can be called zines, but they are definitely influenced by Punk and DIY. The lay-out is usually hand-made, scissors and glue, photocopied, and the result looks a lot like a zine. Even if the circumstances of productions are quite different from what we usually see in zines, the result surely looks like it! Unfortunately, Mr. Hirschhorn has declined our request for an interview.

All issues are listed with Thomas Hirschhorn as the author, because he declared that he believes in “Unshared Authorship”: “I understand my engagement as an artist, as being 100 % responsible for my work and also 100 % its author. Not wanting to share authorship does not mean not wanting to give something, it means not wanting to consider the logic that starts with subtracting from the already existing 100 %. “Un-shared Autorship” stands for the will to give my full 100 % from start to encourage the other to add his 100 % —so we already have 200 % and can continue adding other 100 %— endlessly unlimitedly. Richness, complexity, density, creativity have to be multiplied, not shared.” (Sinziana Ravini, « Interview with Thomas Hirschhorn », Paletten, n° 2, #296, 2014, p. 44.)